THE LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL 285 
THE HERRING GULL 
LARUS ARGENTATUS 
Head and neck white, streaked in summer with light brown; tail and lower 
parts white ; back and wings bluish ash; primaries dusky, passing into 
black, the shafts black and extremities white ; secondaries edged and 
tipped with white; bill, orbits, and irides, yellow; feet flesh-colour. 
In young birds the white is mostly replaced by dark grey, mottled with 
brown ; wings and tail brown, the latter reddish yellow towards the 
end; bill dusky; irides, orbits, and feet, brown. Length twenty- 
three inches. Eggs olive-brown, spotted with dark brown and dusky. 
Ir, among a flock of Common Gulls, seen either following a vessel 
at sea or attending on the movements of a shoal of fish, one be 
observed which greatly surpasses the rest in size, it will probably 
be this species, provided that it have a grey and not a black back. 
In the latter case it may either be the Great or Lesser Black-Backed 
Gull. 
The Herring Gull is a large and powerful bird, thoroughly com- 
petent to dispose of a herring or even a more bulky fish. It is 
common on most parts of the British coast, and remains with us 
all the year, building its nest on steep cliffs, or rocky islands. In 
the south of England it is very abundant, and is more frequently 
seen inland, in newly-ploughed fields, than any other species. Like 
the other Gulls, it may easily be tamed if taken young ; and, when 
kept in a garden, earns its maintenance by keeping down slugs and 
other vermin. 
THE LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL 
LARUS FUSCUS 
Wings reaching two inches beyond the tail; head and neck white, streaked 
(in winter) with brown; lower parts pure white; rest of the upper plumage 
blackish grey; primaries black, the first two with an oval white spot 
near the tip; secondaries and scapulars tipped with white ; bill, irides, 
and feet, yellow; tarsus two and a quarter inches long; orbits red. 
In young birds the white plumage is mostly replaced by grey mottled 
with brown, and the black by dusky edged with yellowish ; the primaries 
have no white spots, and |the bill is dusky. Length twenty-three 
inches. Eggs brownish grey, spotted with brown and black. 
THis is a generally diffused species, occurring in considerable num- 
bers, not only on various parts of our coast, but in the Baltic, the 
Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and the northern parts 
of America. It repairs m spring either to rocky islands, steep cliffs, 
or sometimes to inland lakes, where it builds a rather large nest 
of tufts of grass, and lays two or three eggs. When the young are 
